Any fish will work for this recipe. Just pick your favorite fillet and go with it. We just happened to have a huge lake trout in the freezer, so this is what I used. It is finally mushroom season, and morels are my favorite. Time to stock up!

Lake Trout with Morels

1 lb fish fillets 1/2 to 3/4 thick

2 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup green onion, sliced

Sea salt

1 tsp fresh thyme, or 1/4 tsp dry thyme

Thaw fish if frozen. Pat dry and place in baking dish. Sprinkle with sea salt.

In a saucepan melt butter and add mushrooms, onions and thyme. Cook until tender.

Pour over fish and bake in 450 degree oven for 12-18 minutes. Fish should flake easily with a fork when done.

If you are lucky enough to have a surplus of morels this year there are many ways to preserve them. I have tried just about everything, and several methods work.

1. I thoroughly rinse the mushrooms in cold water. Then sauté in butter for no longer than 3 minutes. Let cool and place in a zip lock baggie with juices from pan. When you are ready to eat, cut off the plastic bag and place the whole frozen block in a skillet. Cover and cook on low. Tastes just like fresh, with a slight difference in firmness and texture.

2. I have dried them on a string in the attic for a month, I have laid them on the oven rack and dried them at 160 degrees for about an hour. I have laid them on window screens out in the back yard until dry. I have never owned a dehydrator, so that’s the only method I haven’t used. Of everything I’ve tried, threading them onto a string (like a little mini-clothes line) was by far the best. When rehydrated the taste and texture was exactly the same as fresh out of the ground. Maybe because no heat is used?

3. I have washed and drained the mushrooms so they are almost dry. Then laid them on a cookie sheet and placed them in the freezer until solid. Pack into bags and vacuüm seal. This method changed the texture a bit, but the flavor was the same.

4. My least favorite method was packing a mason jar (or other freezer container) with mushrooms, covering that with cold water and freezing. They would be ok for soup, but the texture was too mushy for my tastes. And a lot of the flavor gets dumped out with the water after thawing.

This is an easy make-ahead breakfast. You can mix it up the night before and then bake it the next morning. It also makes a fast and easy dinner.

Ham & Asparagus Strata

4 English muffins, torn into pieces

2 cups cooked ham

2 cups fresh asparagus, cut up

4-6 oz Gruyère cheese, cubed

5 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups milk

2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp fresh black pepper

Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. Spread half of the english muffin pieces on the bottom.

Top with ham, asparagus and cheese cubes

Top with remaining english muffin pieces

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, milk, onion, mustard and pepper

Pour this mixture over casserole dish, coating everything evenly

Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours

Bake, uncovered at 325 degrees for 60-65 minutes

There are a zillion variations on this recipe. I have replaced the ham with chicken before. I have used broccoli instead of asparagus. I have used swiss instead of Gruyère. Let your imagination go wild!

It is grilling season, so it’s time to whip up my secret weapon. I have been adapting and changing this recipe for so many years that I don’t remember what I originally started with. All I remember is that I had a half used can of tomato paste in the fridge I was trying to get rid of, and this recipe was somehow born. I love that it has no sugar, but still tastes sweet and has this great spicy kick that goes well with just about any meat. I also really love the base of nourishing bone broth, which you can never have too much of. Tonight we’re grilling bone-in pork ribs from our local farmer with some cornbread. Mmmm, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!

Heat butter/oil in sauce pan and sauté onion for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. You can serve it just like this, but I like to boil it down to thicken it a while. I turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so. I also find the longer cooking time melds the flavors, and it turns out even more delicious.

I have used this sauce on every cut of pork, beef and chicken that I can think of. It is a great marinade, basting sauce, oven baking glaze and dipping sauce. If you are feeding young kids or someone who doesn’t like spicy food you may want to add the chili powder a little bit at a time and taste as you go.

If you want to make this even healthier, you could let it cool and add 2 tbsp of whey and leave it on the counter over night. Then you would have a sugar-free probiotic condiment.

This keeps for 3 weeks in the fridge, and also freezes very well. If you eat as much meat as we do, it won’t last you that long 🙂

Mix coconut milk powder and hot water. Whisk until smooth. Add all remaining ingredients and blend. Pour into a 11×13 casserole dish. Set the casserole dish into a larger pan filled with water. Bake in 350 degree oven for 55-65 minutes. Do not over-bake! Custard sets as it cools, and even more in the fridge. If cooked too long, the liquid will separate from the eggs, and it will turn out like a sweetened scrambled egg, with a bunch of excess liquid. You are looking for the edges to set, but the middle to slightly jiggle when you bump the pan. For the perfect custard, let it cool in the water bath for at least 30 minutes, then cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 4 or more hours.

This can also be baked in individual ramekins or glass Pyrex dishes (for 35 minutes each). Pyrex dishes are very convenient if you’re planning to pack this in your lunch. You can just let it cool completely and snap on the lid and you’re all set.

I have made this with no sweetener before and it is delicious that way as well. It comes out slightly sweet and more eggy tasting and makes a great breakfast hot or cold.

You can use canned coconut milk (or make your own fresh), but I find it cheaper to use the powder.

For a more beautiful presentation, after the custard is finished baking place a layer of banana slices (or coconut flakes) on top and place under a hot broiler for 3-4 minutes. The bananas will carmelize and blacken and look beautiful on the plate.

To soak the beans: Place beans in large bowl or pot, cover with 1 quart of very warm water (110-130 degrees). Soak for 8-24 hours. I put mine in the oven with the pilot light and oven light on, to keep them toasty. They next day, drain the beans and rinse.

Place beans and all other ingredients EXCEPT SALT in the crockpot, laying the bacon across the top. Adding salt to dry beans, keeps them from getting soft. Always add salt to beans after cooking. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

These are very good and very filling. I serve them with fresh cornbread right out of the oven and we usually eat way too much. This recipe freezes and reheats very well. I have made a quadruple batch before and froze it in individual containers (back when I had a chest freezer, geez I miss that!).

Salad season is a lot of fun for me this year. I am having a blast coming up with all sorts of salad dressing and fun creations. But what is a salad without a crunchy, salty, buttery crouton? I had Rob time me, and these took exactly 3 minutes and 4 seconds to prepare, and 9 minutes to bake in the oven. Now, that’s what I call fast food! (and a great use for stale bread).

Homemade Garlic Butter Croutons

1 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Cloves garlic, crushed

salt and pepper

Dash of basil, thyme or parsley for color (totally optional)

4 slices bread, cubed

Preheat the oven to 425. Heat butter, olive oil and garlic in a skillet. Cube some stale bread (I used whole wheat sourdough, but whatever you have around will work) and throw it in the pan. Toss the bread around and stir to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes. Let them cool completely and store in an airtight container. They will keep for 2-3 months.

When I first started eating a healthier diet I whined and complained about how expensive it was. In fact, my main excuse for not buying organic grass-fed beef was the cost. I knew that it was so much healthier that it was practically a different food altogether, but the fact that I would be paying $4.25 a lb for ground beef was a major sticking point for me. Here’s how we did it (and something I didn’t even consider at the time). By eliminating a TON of other things that we used to purchase!

Half of a cow. 100% grass-fed and finished. 320 lbs of meat (from a farmer that we know and trust)

Rob is raising heritage breed hogs for us this year and he is growing 30 chickens and 5 turkeys for the freezer. He also has a laying flock of 25 hens that keep us well stocked in fresh eggs. In the future we plan to raise our own beef cow and I would love to have a dairy cow! Mmmmm cheese…..We would also love to buy bulk wheat and oats and grind them ourselves. Someday soon we will have a large vegetable garden. Always more projects on the way!

My point here is not to sound like I am perfect (because I am SO not), but to let everyone know that for me the cost of properly grown, properly prepared, nutrient-dense, real, whole food is worth it! We have sacrificed a lot of convenience and time and effort to make this happen and guess what? We saved $6,000 in insurance premiums last year because we are never sick. I had 2 teeth cavities remineralize themselves. No more expensive dental visits for me! We don’t spend any money on prescription drugs, over the counter drugs or co-pays for doctor visits. By starting with just one thing at a time we have saved ourselves thousands of dollars. We are now spending that money on the highest quality meat, cheese, milk and vegetables that we can find, from local farmers that we know and trust. By really making our health a priority we have been able to slowly make these changes, and have a lot of fun along the way. (It also helps that we both hate to shop! It takes an act of God to get us into the store 🙂

I am still playing around with cracker recipes! I have never eaten so many crackers in my life. But we all know that I am an absolute cheese-oholic. And what better to place under my cheese, then a nice crispy cracker. Why bother making them yourself you ask? This is the ingredient list from a regular box of plain Wheat Thins:

Enriched Whole Wheat Flour- enriched because they strip and extrude the grain at extremely high temperature and pressure, killing every vitamin and mineral naturally found in wheat. So synthetic vitamins are added back in to try and fool you. I personally doubt that we absorb much, if any, of these synthetic vitamins.

Soybean Oil- from GMO soybeans. Don’t even get me started

Cornstarch-from GMO corn

Malt Syrup-sweetener made from GMO corn

Sugar- made from GMO sugar beets

BHT- added to the packaging to “preserve freshness” This is a fancy way of saying, “you are eating a rancid food and we added a deodorizer to the box so it doesn’t stink when you open it.

Sound appetizing? These crackers are really very easy to make. And the soaking step is ridiculously simple. I hate to shop, so for me this is actually a much easier option than going to a store and buying a box of premade crackers. Ha!

Homemade Wheat Thin Crackers (soaked)

1 1/4 cup organic wheat flour (freshly ground if you can)

1/4 cup water + 2Tbsp

4 Tbsp butter (unsalted)

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt (plus more for salting before baking)

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and paprika.

Cut in the butter. I used a food processor, but you don’t have to.

Add water and stir to combine.

Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and place in a very warm location. Mine took a nice long nap over night on top of the fridge. The ideal temperature would be between 110 and 130 degrees. Maybe the oven with the pilot light? And ideas? Between baking and letting it sit out for 8-24 hours you are breaking down a very large portion of the phytic acid and pre-digesting the gluten. I also like soaking because it breaks your recipes up into two seperate days, which to me feels like less work for some reason….If you don’t care about soaking, then carry on with the baking right now!

Flour your counter top and roll out the dough. You want the crackers to be very thin, so they will be crispy. Transfer the dough to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Score the crackers deeply with a sharp knife. I make mine exactly the size of my mouth 🙂 Sprinkle with a small amount of extra salt. I over did it the first time and they were too salty, so beware.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. Check them after 5 and remove the crackers that are smaller or thinner and are browning too fast. You’ll know the ones….cool. break. eat.

For the sake of the experiment I actually “borrowed” some wheat thins from a co-worker and brang them home. I ate a real wheat thin and a homemade wheat thin and they tasted EXACTLY THE SAME. I made Rob test them both with his eyes closed and he couldn’t tell the difference. Success!

For the absolute best nutritional value, grind your flour fresh. I have not squeezed the grain mill into my budget yet, but I am almost there. I can’t wait!

P.S If you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer, you can buy a very inexpensive attachment for it that will grind fresh grain! I wish I had one…..but I am still using a good old fashioned wooden spoon 🙂

When I’m in a hurry in the kitchen I like a fast all-purpose spice I can grab and sprinkle on a hunk of meat, and throw it in the oven. It took me a while to develop something that is truly all-purpose, but I think this is it! So far I have used it on chicken, fish, beef, bison, salad, hard-boiled eggs and pasta. I think that fits the bill of all-purpose don’t you?

All-Purpose Seasoned Salt

6 Tbsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp Thyme

1/2 tsp Marjoram

1/2 tsp Garlic powder

2 1/2 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Mustard powder

1/2 tsp Onion powder

1/4 tsp Dill

1 tsp Celery salt

Mix all in a bowl and funnel into a shaker. I used this pretty ceramic shaker I found at a yard sale.

Two years ago I went to the dentist for a cleaning. I had one small cavity in between two of my upper teeth, and one large cavity way in the back next to my wisdom tooth. The dentist recommended that I stay and immediately have those two cavities filled. I told him I was going to go home and do some research first. I don’t think anyone has ever said that to him before, because he really looked speechless there for a second. I think Doctors are pretty used to getting their way (besides, he already thinks I’m weird because of a previous argument we got into about fluoride). Here is my research:

Contrary to popular belief, the teeth are not inanimate objects, but fully alive parts of the body. What makes up a tooth?

Dentin: the bone-like layer in the middle of the tooth

Enamel: the hard white surface that covers the tooth

Pulp: with its many blood vessels, nerves and live cells

Mandibular nerve: which stimulates the body in carrying blood to the nerves in the teeth

Trigeminal nerve: stimulates the blood vessels that feed blood from the large cranial nerve to the Mandibular nerve

Periodontal ligament: connects the tooth to the jaw through millions of fibers all going different directions

Dentinal Tubules: EVERY TOOTH CONTAINS 3 MILES OF MICROSCOPIC TUBES, FILLED WITH A SUBSTANCE SIMILAR TO THE CEREBRAL SPINAL FLUID.

Dentin and enamel are fed from tooth building cells which transport or disperse nutrients through the dental lymph. They essentially act as tiny pumps. A healthy tooth will clean itself out, fluid will flow from within the pulp and move outward to protect our teeth from decay.

This Aborigine Tribe had beautiful teeth and wide arches. The pictures on the right page (top left, bottom left and bottom right) show the effects modern “white foods” had on this tribe.

The teeth’s ability to heal itself is based upon how healthy your salivary glands are. Poor diet causes food debris, saliva, chemicals and whatever may be in the body at the time to be pulled into the tooth through the dentinal tubules. Over time, the pulp becomes inflamed and tooth decay spreads to the enamel.

Certain minerals play a key part in tooth health. Namely Magnesium, Copper, Iron, Phosphorus, Calcium and Manganese. Without abundant minerals in the diet the flow of fluid through the tubules is reversed, and cellular metabolism and energy-production of the teeth-building cells are damaged.

Our hormone secreting glands also play a large part in the health of our teeth. When our endocrine glands are out of balance we develop tooth decay or gum disease.

Blood sugar levels when chronically out of balance, can often cause tooth decay or gum disease.

Vitamin A & D are crucial to the health of your teeth. Without enough Vitamin A & D our cells cannot produce enough osteocalcin-the protein that deposits calcium and phosphorous into our bones and teeth.

Without enough fat-soluble vitamins in the diet severe tooth decay can result.

So what can you do?

Help your endocrine and pituitary glands stay in balance by eating a diet very low in sugar. This includes natural sugars.

Eat a diet low in phytic acid, which is an anti-nutrient found in grains, seeds, nuts and beans, and actually blocks the absorption of minerals by the body (I will do a full post on this tomorrow).

Eat more saturated fat! Cholesterol is a vital building block involved in hundreds of functions in the body. In fact, your body produces three to four times the amount of cholesterol that you eat. Cholesterol from healthy fats (coconut oil, tallow, lard, butter etc) is not dangerous and has no effect on your risk of heart disease.

Consume Vitamin A & D together. The most potent form is cod liver oil. You would have to eat 5 quarts of milk, 1 pound of butter or 9 eggs to consume the amount of Vitamin A found in one teaspoon of cod liver oil! (I order mine online at Iherb and use the coupon code HIF798 for a $10 discount and free shipping)

Update: iHerb just added Garden of Life Arctic Cod Liver oil to their site. It is very high quality. Use the code HIF798 for $10 off!

Increase the amount of fresh, raw foods that you consume and reduce the amount of cooked, processed, prepackaged foods.

Eat something other than grass? Why would I want to do that? This grass is delicious!

The Changes I Made

I take 2 capsules of Blue Ice Fermented Cod Liver Oil/Butter Oil Blend 3 TIMES A DAY. Garden of Life makes a great quality Cod Liver Oil as well.

I drink 2-3 cups of raw, grass-fed whole-fat milk per day minimum. We also eat full-fat dairy made from this milk.

I make homemade bone broth often, and we use it for cooking daily.

We eat wild-caught seafood 1-2 times per week ( I find fish eggs are a really easy way to do this) Rob loves all sea food, and probably eats more than I do. We eat oysters, clams, crab, lobster, caviar etc.

We eat high quality beef, pork, chicken from a local farm who only feeds the animals what God would feed them.

We eat the organ meats from those animals at least 1 time per week

I eliminated sugar from my diet completely and only allow myself 1 Tbsp per day maximum. Which sounds hard, but once you haven’t had sugar for a while, 1 Tbsp is actually a lot of sweetener. (and fruit tastes like candy)

I increased the amount of green leafy vegetables in my diet, and always consume them with a healthy fat, so I can absorb the minerals efficiently. Juicing is an excellent way to do this, if you aren’t a big veggie fan.

I started soaking grains to reduce the amount of phytic acids I was consuming. I will post on this method tomorrow. I also greatly reduced the amount of grains that we were eating, and started buying sprouted flour.

Have you had your colorful foods today?

Because your teeth are alive, they CAN heal themselves!

I didn’t believe this until I went back to the dentist 6 months later and the small cavity on the top was so much smaller in the X-ray that the Doctor could barely find it. In my mind I screamed “I knew it would work, I knew it!”. But out loud I just said “hhmmm. It looks like the changes I made worked.” He asked me a lot of questions, and I answered them all. We talked for over an hour about the changes I made, and the research behind why they worked. This man with a doctorate in dentistry literally said to me “I have been a dentist for 21 years and I had no idea a tooth could remineralize itself. I didn’t know it was even possible”.

Now it has been 2 years, and both of my cavities are 100% gone. I also had teeth that were very sensitive to cold, and that has gone away entirely. I can now chew ice cubes (I know everyone with sensitive teeth out there is cringing right now) and rinse my mouth with ice water and I feel no pain.

IN SUMMARY

Tooth decay is caused by an imbalance in body chemistry. Blood sugar spikes cause our hormones to tell the teeth to stop adding minerals, and our metabolism of calcium and phosphorous is disrupted. Eat plenty of vegetables, stop eating so much sugar and carbohydrates, eat more grass-fed protein and fat and you can resolve this imbalance.

I would recommend the same research to you, that I did to the good Doctor: